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Sunday, August 28, 2016

What’s the future of Iraq with so many traumatized but untreated victims?

The barbarism of the Islamic group ISIS has made many victims.
Directly and indirectly it has damaged entire communities and even a
whole nation.

August is the time to remember that two years ago ISIS took
Yezidi and Christian areas in Iraq, killing, kidnapping, looting and
forcing people from their homes.

Since then, many thousands of members of these communities have
been living in tents and caravans all over the Kurdistan Region. Only
the lucky ones were able to find more proper housing.

Many of them did not only lose their homes and land, but their
family members too, as the group killed probably thousands during its
rampage in the Shingal region. Some of them witnessed the killing of
their family members.

We focus on the victims when we report on these tragedies. The
women and girls who returned from their ordeal, the kids being able to
escape a future as ISIS fighters, the men killed. Or, the other
scenario: the women still with ISIS and suffering every day, and their
kids being indoctrinated to kill their own.

But we hardly talk about the family members; those still
waiting for relatives that are most probably dead, or who might never be
able to escape from ISIS territories.Read more

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Stay for the best result

Iraq gets under your skin. It is a country that is constantly changing. A place with a shortage of energy and water, but plenty of hospitality. Because of the many trauma's and scars, every step forward can be considered a victory. That is why it creeps under your skin - and you will stay, for the best result.

About me

I am a Dutch journalist working in Iraqi Kurdistan since 2008, a correspondent for Dutch and Belgian media (amongst others) and an author of 6 books, of which two have been translated into Kurdish. I set up the Independent Media Centre in Kurdistan which I lead till the end of 2012.